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WWW.AVIAPC.COM

We tried to get APCI.COM but multinational gas company Air Products beat us to it.  The site is designed the following objectives and specification. 

1) It should attract new members worldwide

2) It should provide an alternative newsletter delivery medium, which will offer colour images.

3) It will offer “hot news” between newsletters

4) It will develop an archive of past material

5) It will provide a repository for members wishing to share checklists etc

6) It will provide links to other Aviation PC or Aviation history  research sites 

Within these :-

1) It will not allow non-members access to current and recent publications. Members will get    an annual password.

2) It will not infringe any members privacy

3) It will not be a chat-line

4) It will not be a sales/exchange site but will offer links to dealer/members own web-sites and/or E-mail addresses

These are the basics.  Some “added-value” ideas include two quiz cards

1) What is it ? – We don’t know

2) What is it ? – We know and you may win something – a free issue for non-members

We only got the site name a week back from writing this, so anything you see at the site now is very tentative and it will take time to get right but at least we have finally got it moving. As the net is a very visual media, maybe we now need a logo . As the new logos from such as Britannia and MY Travel (ex Airtours) look like something off a cheap Website maybe we should go the other way and expropriate some long dead insignia. Some of old air-mail insignia might be an idea – perhaps some of our aerophilatelists could come up with one.

CATALOGUE 2002 – LONDON HEATHROW

The results of the survey on the back of the 2002 renewal form were as follows.  The figures are the sums of the ticks in boxes, so if a member ticked all options , all count equally.

Not a great deal in it –and all short of the 30 needed to go ahead but this was true of earlier surveys and all have beat 50 in actual shipments, though a curiosity is that the BAC111, used extensively in North and South America, undersold the Comet and VC-10 neither of which did.

So , why Heathrow.  Basically it is a challenge because  it is a different type of subject from a single airliner.  But additionally :-

1) Estimated card numbers are around 150 , including multi-view type duplicates, so we may   be able to show 100%.

2) At least 50% of these are B&W, so high quality professional print of these becomes cost effective.  The price of colour inks has risen so much that printer manufacturers supplying a printer with cartridges installed are almost giving the printer away. There is more to it than that but you get the point.

3) There are at least 3 members with substantial UK airport collections.

4) Having been an LHR “airport kid” I can add some personal interpretations of what is to be seen.

As regards scope, any card titled Heathrow or London  Airport gets in.

There will also be pre-history section on Hounslow Heath and Faireys Great West Aerodrome and maybe Heathrow village.   Notable Heathrow card series from the 40s and 50s (e.g Bridge House, Fry) included some non-LHR views, usually aircraft in flight – we may choose to give a seperate listing of these for completeness.  More problematical is where a view, primarily of an aircrsaft in a collector series, includes an otherwise unrecorded bit of airport – e.g the BA/BOAC concrete hangar or the multi-level spectator terraces viewed from ramp level.

As usual , a starter list will be prepared and sent out to any willing to contribute. I assume Mike Charlton , whose proposal this subject originally was, will be in – others please contact me.  However, there are a few questions re Heathrow cards which give rise to what is in effect a “Heathrow- What do you know” – which could be the start of a song/poem but as far as I know is not –yet !

1) There is a late 40s series of  numbered real photo cards by photographer  E.A Wilson of Sunbury on Thames. Not all carry this name but numbers 1-4 are known, all taken from or in the first  Northside ground level spectators enclosure.  Another card was seen years ago which may be part of this series. It is a view of the northside buildings from the old A4 Bath Road and could have been titled “London Airport – The Bus Stop” as this was the central feature.  Was thus another Wilson card ?

2) Another contemporary card showed the Northside entrance from the Bath Rd. Does anyone know the publisher of this?

3) Some mid 50s photographic cards exist, some with a Post Card hand-stamp and some plain back. Some of these are deckle edge. It is suspected that these came from a photographic shop on the Queens Building terrace- at one time it was on level two behind the commentary box  next to the bookshop

4) The commentary from this box appeared to be in a female voice but I heard once that it was in fact a midget gentleman called Mr Little. True or false ?

That’s all for now – I am sure there will be more.

Below : The said commentary box is the background for Channel AW BAC-111 on this card from Aviation Hobby Shop card AHS-72

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